Mark 4: Asleep in the Storm

The chapter of seed and soil ends on water. A squall comes down on the lake, the boat is filling, and Jesus is asleep on a cushion in the stern.

The disciples do not ask him to calm it. They ask a different question: do you not care that we are perishing? That is the sentence most of us have actually prayed, and it is preserved here without correction.

The wind stops. Then he asks why they were afraid — not because fear is forbidden, but because they had concluded from his silence that he was indifferent.

Sleeping is not the same as absent. It is worth remembering on a week when heaven seems quiet.